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Author
Topic: Back from Thailand (Read 2503 times)

I had a great time. The Thai people are so warm and welcoming and oh so beautiful. I spent the first few days in Bangkok with my mate Grant. I guess we did the usual tourist things and visited the Grand Palace, the weekend markets, lots of good food and drink etc. The heat and humidity was pretty tough at first, but nothing this little Aussie couldn't deal with, except for the odd 'white-out' here and there.

We then had 3 days in Chiang Mai, which was a lovely escape from the hustle and bustle that is Bangkok. I went elephant riding, visited a tribe of 'long necks' and Doi Suthep, a buddhist temple on the side of a mountain overlooking the city. We also visited an orphanage, took them along some goodies and played football with some young thai lads who ran rings around Grant and I. About 25% of the kids in the orphanage are HIV+ but they are fully integrated with the other kids and treated just the same. I was pleasantly surprised.

The last few days were spent back in Bangkok where we had dinner at an open air restaurant on the 63 floor of the State One building, boogied at Bed Supperclub, and shopped madly in department stores, china town and any market I could find.

That's what I thought the taxi driver was asking when he said did we want to see some long necks. For the uninitiated, a long neck in Australia is a 750ml bottle of beer, called long neck because the neck of the bottle is long, as opposed to a stubbie, which is a smaller bottle of beer.I'll do a little internet research and find out their real name. (eidted: they are from the Karen tribe in Myanmar) From what I understand, they are from over the border in Myanmar (Burma) but get harassed by the government so they have fled over the border to Thailand where the govt offers them protection but not much else.

I also just read, but cannot confirm this as fact, that the rings (actually a spiral which gets added to over time and not rings at all) do not actually extend the length of the neck but work by putting downward pressure on the collar bones and rib cage (they can weigh about 5 or 6 kg's) and stunting their growth, giving the appearance of a long neck.

Glad you made it back home safe and sound, and glad you had a great trip!The pics are wonderful, it all sounds fascinating. I would love to ride an elephant! I'd also love to swim with dolphins someday....

Hugs,

Alan

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